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Perhaps with the exception of Chewbacca, the Kenner Admiral Akbar figure was our first truly alien-looking Rebel. Prior to Admiral Akbar's pep talk for the attack on the second Death Star the civil war between the Empire and the Rebellion had looked like a largely homo sapien affair with sentient alien figures generally filling in as bounty hunters, scavengers and ner-do-wells. Akbar gives us our first clue that this is a truly galactic, multi-planetary inter-species struggle and not just a local affair between predominantly white male humans and predominantly helmeted white male cloned humans. In fact, much of A New Hope had sounded like a conflict between characters with English accents and those with American ones; essentially a struggle between different factions of white Western civilisation.

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Admiral Akbar's species is perhaps unimaginatively named, calamari being the culinary name for squid and the audience only just having encountered Squid Head amongst Jabba's courtiers. Likewise, the Admiral's surname is a distinctly Indian and even perhaps Islamic one and we have to wonder whether Lucas encountered the surname during filming in Tunisia and the name somehow stuck in his mind (albeit the filming for outside of Jabba's Palace itself took place in Death Valley). As such, Admiral Akbar embodies a strong expression of difference both in terms of genus and of religion and culture included within the Rebellion and of high rank. It's quite a departure from the briefings of Rebel troops and pilots in Episodes IV and V.

As for the action figure itself, the Kenner Admiral Akbar had quite a limited display value at the time of it's release, as it was quite a task to assemble the right figures and enough of them to replicate any sort of convincing Death Star attack briefing scene, and even if you did, where was the action? With the release of the Last 17 Lando Calrissian (General Pilot) and also a variety of pilots, Endor troopers and Mon Mothma in more recent series, the task of recreating the scene is a bit more rewarding these days.

Another good indication of play value, for myself at least, resides in the amount of sensory stimulation which the action figure provides. By this measure the Kenner Admiral Akbar figure does very well. The contrast between the vibrant orange head and arms and the cream outfit carries definite visual stimulation. The ridged forearms and cranium are very tactile and provide a great sensory contrast to the smoothness of the trouser-ed legs which have a distinctive crease (more so than the Bespin Lando Calrissian figure or Lobot which are the only other two Kenner figures I can think of which had creases in their pants). In terms of touch, feel and colour the Admiral Akbar action figure is quite a sensory treat.

The Mon Calimari Admiral is one of the many Lucasfilm characters which makes you think they'd been conceived of after a visit to an aquarium (see also Walrus Man, Squid Head and of course Hammerhead is a little reminiscent of a Hammerhead Shark). Many of Lucasfilm's characters are just a little bit aquatic even though we don't get any marine environments in Episodes IV to VI. We have to wait until the Clone Wars animated series before we actually meet any of these species in their aquatic habitats.

The worst area of paint loss on the Kenner Admiral Akbar figure appears to be on the pupils of his eyes. It's a small area but it does make Akbar look pretty tatty when the paint wears off here. Notably, the paint application on the eyes is not consistent with some Admiral Akbar's having large pupils and some having small pupils.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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